Beatification of John Paul II begins

Pope Benedict XVI today confirmed that he had begun the process of beatifying his predecessor, John Paul II.

The pontiff said he was dispensing with rules ordering a five-year wait following the death of a candidate. The five-year rule is intended to allow time for emotions to calm after a person's death.

He made the announcement in Latin during a meeting with the Roman clergy at the Basilica of St John Lateran.

It is the first step to the canonisation of John Paul II, who died last month. At his funeral Mass, pilgrims chanted "Santo, Santo!" and held up banners saying "Santo Subito" - meaning "immediate sainthood".

A commission is now expected to be appointed to examine John Paul II's life and gather his teachings to ensure orthodoxy and that he expressed no heretical views.

It will also have to confirm that the former pope performed miracles. One miracle is required for John Paul II to be beatified, and a second for him to be declared a saint.

After John Paul II died, Italian newspapers carried reports of alleged miracles that had been attributed to him.

However, the reports stemmed from inexplicable cures that had occurred while the former pontiff was still alive. Vatican rules say a miracle has to have occurred after death for it to be considered in the sanctifying process.

Pope Benedict's surprise announcement came on the anniversary of an assassination attempt on John Paul II, who was shot in St Peter's Square by a Turkish gunman in 1981.

John Paul II himself lifted the five-year waiting period for the beatification procedures to begin for Mother Teresa, the nun who dedicated her life to caring for India's poorest people, when he launched the beatification process a year after her death in 1997. She was beatified in October 2003.

Pope Benedict also named the archbishop of San Francisco, William Levada, to replace him as the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, once known as the holy inquisition.

Archbishop Levada, a 68-year-old theologian, is the first American to hold the post. He joined the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1976 and served for six years. He returned as one of the five bishops on the congregation in 2000.